The Best Concerts in OC This Weekend

Noche De Los Psychos Original Mike's To the casual listener, the psychobilly music scene seems to be gearing up for a revival of sorts, but as diehard fans with flattop hairdo's and quiffs would tell you, it's remained strong all these years. Tonight's Noche De Los Psychos event proves this point, with musical guests that include local trio Crash Cadillacs to pioneers The Meteors. Boasting themselves as originators of the genre, British band The Meteors are the undisputed Kings of Psychobilly, having formed in 1980 and played alongside other British groups The Clash and UK Subs. Thirty-plus years, nearly fifty albums and several lineup changes later, The Meteors have stayed on top of the psychobilly pyramid, not breaking for single minute and continuing to pump their tracks next to newer generations the world over. (Aimee Murillo)

Saturday, May 16

Powerhouse Honda Center Another year, another Powerhouse lineup--this time with Grammy-winning rapper and producer Kanye West. The show will consist of two stages: the first will be indoors and will feature mainstream hip hop artists regularly played on LA radio station's Power 106 (like Ludacris, Kid ink, and B.o.B.); the second will be outdoors and will feature performances by up-and-coming artists like Dizzy Wright and Hopsin. The outdoor performances start at 4 p.m. and the indoor ones at 7 p.m., so get ready for a full evening of swaying, jumping, and rapping along to your favorite hip hop jams. (Kristine Hoang)

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Psycho California The Observatory Now in its third year, Psycho California is aptly named, as the three-day festival gathers more than 50 bands for a cheery weekend of death metal, post-rock, hardcore, stoner rock and hard-rock psychedelia. The avalanche of riffage starts Friday with New Orleans sludge-metallists Eyehategod, the newly reconfigured Pentagram spinoff Bedemon and the intense Chicago instrumental trio Russian Circles. Saturday is headlined by San Jose stoner-rock icons Sleep, who belie their name with thick, primal, sub-Sabbath-y riffs that are rooted in the blues but are inevitably transformed into towering pillars of metal. Drone merchants Earth are another predominantly instrumental band, but their latest album, Primitive and Deadly, features guest vocalists Mark Lanegan and Rabia Shaheen Qazi. Sunday culminates with the latest lineup of Pentagram, led by founding singer Bobby Liebling, along with Om, Bongzilla and Earthless. Also Saturday and Sunday, May 16 and 17. (Falling James)Sunday, May 17

Ex Hex Acerogami at the Glass House If The Runaways had risen from the dead and acquired a modern touch, they' sound a lot like Washington, D.C.-based garage-pop trio Ex Hex, who have been playing together for only two years. Led by guitarist/singer Mary Timony (formerly a member of Helium, Autoclave, and Wild Flag), Ex Hex seems to be a refreshing revival of 1970s girl punk. Each song on their debut full-length album Rips(2014) contains punchy power chords and echo-y, rough vocals from Timony a la Cherie Currie; at some points of the album, you might even expect Timony to cry out "Cherry Bomb!" But of course, even if Rips's musical influences are easy to pinpoint, that doesn't discount its originality and admirable craftsmanship. (Kristine Hoang)

The Abigails Continental Room The front of Abigails LP Tundra (out on Burger Records) is Abigails mastermind Warren Thomas alone and stranded in some spaghetti-western desert, and if that doesn't tell you exactly what this is gonna sound like, it's only because it would've been logistically prohibitive to put scorch marks on every single cover. Tundra lead track "Twenty Nine" reveals shockingly lush production--for the Abigails, that means you can't hear the cigarette smoke dissolving the tape--and songs that sound like Alex Chilton producing Lee Hazlewood, or the Gun Club on a turntable that discovered its own speed between 33 and 45. It's bleak and it's burned out and that's just the way we love it. Raise a glass and smash it later. (Chris Ziegler)See also10 Punk Albums to Listen to Before You Die10 Goriest Album Covers10 Most Satanic Metal Bands